Thursday, August 25, 2011

This week was adventure in the city. Earthquake on Tuesday and a hurricane headed this way for the weekend. Time to make preparations but the good news for me is I am heeding the warnings and gettin' out of town. OK, we are not on the coast but there will be a lot of wind and rain. We will probably loose power, so who wants to be here for that? I'd rather drink Hurricanes than live through one.
I am headed out of town to New Orleans. I planned to attend the International Food Bloggers Conference hosted by Foodista.com. Lots of great speakers, seminars, food and wine tastings, and even a bar crawl on Friday. I hope learn a lot meet new people from around the blog sphere.

The New OrleansCookbook

Who wouldn't want to eat this food?

Brown frog legs well on all sides, that shouldn't take long

So, as the great trip planner that I think I am, I came across this pamphlet cookbook while working on a project at work. We have a varied collection of cookbooks that were donated from the Culinary Historians of Washington. We call it the CHOW collection. This cookbook pamphlet is from the fabulous 50's published by the Culinary Arts Institute in Chicago. I wish that I had time to cook from this pamphlet before I go but that will be my project when I get home. Who doesn't want dishes called Jellied Veal Loaf, Pompano Florentine, Fried Frog Legs in Cream Sauce, Sweet Potato Pone, and Apple Fritters. So, if planes are flying in on Monday I can start planning to cook up a storm (no pun intended).

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Late spring and well into summer means one thing to the local farms in the rolling hills of Maryland pick your own fruit. I have picked tart cherries and strawberries. I had a great opportunity to go to Holmstead Farms in Poolsville, MD. Of course it was a hot and sticky day in the DC area so naturally we ventured out of the city to the countryside for locally grown fruit. There is nothing like picking your own food. It taste so much better than anything you can find in a grocery store. Biting into warm fresh picked strawberries, so sweet and flavorful. I picked 3 pounds of strawberries and 6 pounds of tart cherries what to make?? I made small batch of strawberry jam and a tart cherry jam. At the farmer's market I bought apricots and small sweet plums again for very small batch jam. Peaches are in season now so I guess that I make that as well. In the dead of winter I will have jam that will remind me of the hot and sticky days of DC summers. Oh, how I love summer.

Monday, August 15, 2011

We should celebrate Julia's birthday. Or maybe I should. I had the wonderful opportunity to met Julia many years ago. She and Jacques Pepin where on their book tour Cooking at home with Julia and Jacques. My mom purchased tickets to the meet and greet cocktail party and lecture. I was in line with all my cookbooks in my bag. What would I say or what question should I ask them? I was getting nervous as the line slowly moved to see them. Then, when it was my turn to meet them I could muster was "Thank you for teaching my mom to cook". That was it! That is all I could think to say? NO, then in an instant it was time to move on. But wait, my mom didn't cook while I was growing up. She learned much later in life. I learned to cook and make dinner while my parents were attending night school.

Because of where I work I have the wonderful pleasure that I can visit her kitchen when mood strikes me.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

When you put banana, peanut butter, bacon, and soft white bread together what do you have? The Elvis. This week brings us to celebrate the king, so the question is with or without bacon? The king made these simple ingredients and this sandwich famous. In some areas it is know as simply THE ELVIS. These very unassuming ingredients create a simple grilled sandwich. I have seen this sandwich with bacon and without and I must say after much "research" I think bacon is the way to go. Bacon makes everything better. So long live the king "with bacon".

Friday, August 12, 2011

This town has a love affair or obsession with food trucks. Last year there was a gathering of the trucks in one location called Curbside Cookoff. This year they organized a monthly event called Truckaroo. About 25+ trucks gather from 11 am to 11 pm or until they sell out. The hubster and I went to Truckaroo I and tonight we were planning on going to Truckaroo III, until I was turned away by the "bouncers" because I had a baguette and a bottle of water (it was only 1/4 full mind you). So there went our dinner plans. After looking on the website for Truckaroo it does not state that you are not to bring water or baguettes, yeah OK it's a loaf of French bread but not one of the trucks participating inTruckaroo sells bread or baguettes separately. It's too bad because the Feelin' Crabby Truck was there as well as 3 others that are new and I wanted to try as well as many old favorites.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Well now that it's August vegetables from my garden are starting to be harvested. And that's it except for my 4 potato plants my garden had given up all it's going to produce. My miniature garden is what I am calling it this year. I have a wonderfully sized yard for living in the city and have been trying and retrying to grow vegetables for the last few years. I can't seem to give up planning for the next growing season every fall. This year I added potatoes to the standards of tomatoes, peppers, carrots and beets and every year I am not successful.

Handful of fingerling potatoes

yellow cherry tomatoes, red pepper, banana pepper

Vegetables to scale

Every spring as I plant my rows of vegetables I remember my grandfathers garden. He grew the most amazing tomatoes and peppers in white containers around the house in St. Augustine, Florida. I think he secret weapon was fish bones. So now that I am looking forward and planning for the next growing season I am going to follow his techniques. I have 5 gallon white containers and I will get fish head and bones from the fish market in the spring before I plant next year. So, I will try again next year and then then year after that.